


Command Her

by dorkyduckling



Category: Clear Skies (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:55:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkyduckling/pseuds/dorkyduckling
Summary: Something's not right on the Ross. A series of unfortunate events leads Captain Sull to a place they never expected to be.
Relationships: EXEO & Azeri Sull, EXEO/Azeri Sull, Jane Lakat/Azzmi Shanto
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Command Her

**Author's Note:**

> Quicks thanks to the League of Whimsy for help with various aspects of this fic! Couldn't have done it without them. This is my first attempt at Clear Skies fanfiction so I hope I did them justice. Also my only experience with Star Trek is Clear Skies and Shield of Tomorrow so bear with me.
> 
> TW: Mentions of poisoning, explosions, hypoxia, life support failing. Minor nongraphic violence, including mentions of blood. There's a medbay scene where people are being treated. There's also a loss of autonomy for one character.

_**$ command_her --verbose ross!holo!exeo** _

_**connecting to ross!holo!exeo** _

_**uploading...** _

_**done** _

_**$** _

"Captain?" 

Captain Azeri Sull prided themselves in reading people and at that moment, as they sat in the conference room preparing for a briefing, they could hear a note of concern in M'Qrell's voice even through the comm. 

"Yes, Doctor?" Azeri responded, bracing for bad news. It was worrying enough they could even tell M'Qrell was concerned considering how close she played things to her chest. 

"I currently have the vast majority of the counseling staff in my medbay. They seem to be very sick." M'Qrell explained. "I don’t know what’s wrong yet but I think it might be a good idea to have Chief Theq look at the replicators in the counseling offices. I’d also recommend having him check the ventilation. Preliminary findings suggest some sort of toxin or poison and not illness."

"How sick?" Azeri frowned. 

"Most of them are unconscious at the moment, some are seizing on and off. The medical officers and I are trying to keep them stable. It’s very unpleasant here, I don’t recommend coming down." M'Qrell said. Azeri just shook their head at the very obvious M'Qrell take on the situation. 

"I take it you won’t be making it to the morning briefing?" 

"I’m afraid not, it is, how they say, all hands on deck." 

"Understood, Doctor. Keep me updated on the situation." Azeri nodded to themselves. 

"Thank you, Captain, you will be the first to know when I have more information." With that M'Qrell ended communications and Azeri was left to ponder. The situation didn’t sit right with them. Counseling included a variety of different species, and a majority were sick? How many things could affect so many species so similarly? 

"Good morning, Captain." EXEO greeted as she entered the conference room. She was smiling as usual and Azeri smiled back. 

"Good morning, Commander." Azeri greeted, shuffling a few datapads. "It seems the good doctor will not be joining us this morning. Quite a bit of your counseling staff have taken ill." 

"Oh, that’s terrible." EXEO frowned. "I hadn’t heard anything from them about not feeling well. I’ll have to go visit later and see how they’re doing."

"M'Qrell isn’t sure what’s wrong with them but she’s doing what she can to help them. She said she’ll keep me updated and I’ll make sure you know as well." Azeri nodded.

"I’m just saying I think I could do it." Vrenn's voice broke the serious moment between the Captain and first officer, as the doors opened and the rest of the senior staff started to filter in. The two shared a look before Azeri turned to their arriving crew. 

"Welcome everyone, we have a lot to cover in this briefing. It seems we have a situation at hand." 

* * *

“Hey, Lakat.” Vrenn spun his chair so he could face the Cardassian who was neck-deep in sensor data. 

“Yes, Vrenn?” Lakat didn’t even look up from her work. 

“Do you find something weird about this?” Vrenn asked, a puzzled expression on his face. 

“Weird about what?” Lakat finally looked up, confusion apparent. 

“The whole counseling department getting sick at once. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but isn’t it pretty unlikely one malfunction could make so many different species sick? I mean the Ross has a lot of different species on her, and so that means so does counseling.” 

“Yeah.” Lakat paused for a moment in thought. “I was thinking that too. I actually asked Prahl about it earlier and he said they were looking into it.” 

“Oh, cool.” Vrenn nodded, seemingly pleased someone agreed with him. 

“Prahl thinks it’s just a replicator glitch though, he said they’ve all been weird lately,” Lakat added. “It doesn’t add up to me. Theq’s been doing a level 1 diagnostic though, so it’ll be awhile until we find out.” 

“I heard that things in sickbay are getting worse,” Vrenn said. “Apparently M’Qrell is having a hard time figuring out what’s wrong and how to stabilize everyone.” 

“Yeah, I haven’t seen her all morning. I saw the Captain and EXEO leave earlier, I think they were going to sickbay.”

“Do you think someone poisoned counseling?” Vrenn suggested, raising his eyebrows. 

“Maybe, but why? Nothing against counseling but like, they’re hardly the most important department to the ship’s integrity.” Lakat considered it though. 

Vrenn’s next thought was interrupted by an alarm blaring on the consoles as the lights on the bridge flickered. Vrenn swung back to his console to see what was going on. 

“A console and an EPS blew down in counseling where Theq was working and caused a cascading system failure and power outage. Theq and his engineers are being transported to medbay while another team diverts any remaining power to life support systems and tries to prevent further power loss.” Prahl said, urgency in his voice.

“Looks like there was a glitch in counseling after all,” Vrenn muttered. Lakat just shot him a look. 

\-----

“Status report.” Azeri barked, a dozen or so different datapads laid out in front of them. The remainder of the senior staff were gathered around the conference room table. 

“Theq and the members of his engineering team have all been taken to sickbay with injuries ranging from minor to severe. Dr. M’Qrell has enlisted some officers from Beta shift to help with the influx of injuries.” EXEO spoke. “Chief Singh has taken over temporarily and is helping to make sure only essential systems remain online. They’ve shunted power to make sure life support stays online. Unfortunately for now that means we are, as some like to say, dead in the water.”    
  


“Any idea when systems will be back online?” Azeri asked. 

“No, Captain. Engineering tells me whatever glitched out in the counseling department that made them sick, is also what caused the power failure, and that means it’s a more extensive problem than we realized.” Prahl answered. 

“Captain are we sure it really was a glitch?” Lakat asked, her expression showing she wasn’t buying the malfunction story. 

“I was told that while the diagnostic wasn’t finished, that until that point Theq found no signs of tampering.” Prahl shook his head. “There have been no unauthorized entries into our systems either.” 

“Don’t worry Lakat, I’m making sure we cover all bases. If this was sabotage we’ll know sooner rather than later.” Azeri assured her, eyes still pouring over the datapads. “Prahl, let’s make sure we’re on our toes. We don’t want anyone taking advantage of our inability to move or fight.” 

“Yes, Captain.” 

“I haven’t felt anything odd lately.” Olyn finally spoke. “Nothing out of the usual at least.” 

“We can’t rule it out yet, but I want to make sure we’re looking at all the options.” Azeri nodded. “You’re all dismissed, but keep an eye out. I don’t want any more surprises.”

* * *

“Slow down, Azzmi.” Azeri was half asleep standing in the doorway of their quarters, and Yeoman Azzmi Shanto was standing in front of them  _ panicked.  _ It was an odd look on the Yeoman and it had Azeri on edge. 

“I’m sorry Captain.” Azzmi took a deep breath. “Ja-...Lieutenant Lakat and I had plans to talk plants this evening. It was scheduled a few hours after the end of Alpha shift, so 10 Forward wouldn’t be so busy. Except when I went to her quarters she didn’t answer. I asked Olyn to check on her and they found that life support malfunctioned.” 

“Is she okay?” Azeri frowned. 

“Olyn said she was barely breathing when they found her. Lakat was unconscious on the floor. They sent me to get you right away.” 

“Is she in medbay now?” Azeri was already grabbing for their uniform as they called back out the door. 

“Yes, Olyn had someone help them take her down there.” Azzmi looked like she might cry at that moment. 

“Head there then, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Captain.” 

* * *

  
Azeri was at a loss.

Something was either terribly wrong with the ship or someone was tampering with it. They were inclined to believe the latter with the life support failing in Lakat’s quarters. It hadn’t been just Lakat’s quarters, but the quarters it did fail in made no sense. There was no rhyme or reason. 

Lakat lay in the sickbay bed, Olyn leaning forward with their head on her stomach, shoulders silently shaking. Azzmi was on the other side with one of Lakat’s hands in hers. It was unsettling to look at. Lakat was so still and so pale, and she looked tiny on the bed. Lt. Callum was working on her, adjusting equipment, and administering hyposprays around the two visitors. 

Ensign iQ’Bal was in the bed next to hers, which was another reason she was suspicious. A simple life support malfunction shouldn’t do nearly as much damage to a Klingon as it had. He was just the beginning of the victims of life support malfunction. Even with Lt.JG Ezigan only being half Klingon should have fared better than they had. Lt.JG Ozil and Ensign Vlassdaf had certainly fared far worse. 

On the opposite side of sickbay was a group of medical staff crowded around Lt. To who was seizing again. She could make out M’Qrell just barely among the crowd. How was the health of counseling staff still deteriorating?

Next to her was Theq, covered in bandages and going through the dermal regenerator again, with Ensign Lemond and Lt.JG Kah to his left in the same state. It was hard to tell the two apart with all the bandages. Theq had some blue peeking out. Lt.JG Tahra was overseeing them at the moment. 

How did Azeri let this happen? How did so many crew members wind up hurt? What did they miss?

“Captain.” Olyn’s voice pulled them out of their reverie. Azeri hadn’t even noticed them lookup. Tears were streaming down their cheeks. 

“Ambassador I swear I’m going to find out what’s going on.” Azeri promised, stepping closer to where they were. 

“I believe you will.” Olyn nodded. “In the meantime, I need to be here with her.” They gestured to Lakat. “Attache Alina will you give you anything you might need.” 

“I already asked Prahl to start pulling security tapes. Someone had to have done this. Too much has happened for this to be a coincidence.” 

“Captain, if you need my help....” Azzmi spoke up. 

“Stay here, for now, you’re right where I need you. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

* * *

Then all Hell broke loose. 

Azeri asked themselves how they missed it. They took pride in noticing things about their crew and they knew their senior staff well. They could tell when Theq was anxious and when Lakat was holding her tongue. They knew Vrenn hid behind his goofy exterior and Prahl was hiding from the horrors of war. They knew Olyn was having more trouble than they let on and M’Qrell was hiding a lot deep down. EXEO was another matter.

EXEO they knew better than anyone.

Sure, they were Captain and Commander, but Azeri also considered them friends. The two often had long talks or shared dances on the holodecks. Azeri didn’t want to admit it, but over time they’d fallen for their dear commander.

Maybe that’s how they’d missed. Maybe their emotions had blinded them to the situation under their nose this entire time. 

“I wondered when you’d catch on.” That was not the voice Azeri knew better than anything. 

Blood dripped from a blade as Prahl gasped in pain on the ground, blood pooling from a large wound in his stomach. Above him, holding the knife, was EXEO with a completely neutral expression that contradicted the entire situation. 

“I didn’t think I needed to worry about you but that was an oversight on my part.” Azeri’s hands were held up in a placating gesture,  but anyone well trained would see a slight tremor. They had assumed that EXEO’s absence from her usual place on the bridge correlated to the lack of counseling staff. 

How wrong they had been.

“You know I’ve never heard a Cardassian beg before. But I suppose anyone faced with someone trapping you in a deoxygenated room with their life fading, is going to beg for their life.”  Her words were cold and robotic, this wasn’t EXEO. Not the EXEO that Azeri knew.

“You poisoned the counseling staff, blew up the console Theq was working on and disabled the ship?” Azeri asked, trying to gain insight into the situation. None of this made sense. Had they been so blind to the situation? Had something been wrong this entire time?

“And you thought it was just a series of unfortunate accidents.” EXEO laughed but there was a flash of something in her face, almost like a glitch.  Hope sparked within Azeri’s chest. No, they hadn’t been a fool. There was something wrong here. A thought occurred to them, something that had stuck out.

“But you didn’t kill any of them. You could have but you didn’t.” 

“I couldn’t.” There’s suddenly pain in EXEO’s voice and softness in her face. It doesn’t last long before the cold exterior replaces it once again. “A mistake.”

That, that was EXEO, that flash of feeling was her. She was still in there. This  _ wasn’t _ EXEO at all. 

“You don't make mistakes.” Azeri pointed out.  Maybe it was just the desperation that they could get EXEO back that was making them see things, but they had to try.  “You let them live on purpose. I know you’re in there EXEO. I don’t know what’s controlling you right now, but I know you’re in there.” 

“She’s mine now, Captain.” EXEO said with an empty smile.  Azeri’s jaw clenched at the implication that EXEO belonged to anyone.

“No one controls EXEO, she’s her own person. I know you’re in there. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Every mistake was on purpose, a cry for help.”  Their eyes are searching, trying to look for signs of a crack in the cold persona.

“They hacked her code.” Prahl rasped from below, hands clutched around the bleeding.  His words confirmed Azeri’s suspicions. 

“And we all know EXEO is far more than just her code.” Azeri nodded,  more confident that they could get through this. 

There was a flicker in the hard light and EXEO was crying, face filled with anguish. 

“I didn’t want to hurt them.” EXEO shook her head. “I couldn’t stop myself.” 

“Fight it, EXEO. You’re one of the strongest people I know and you love your crew. You can fight this.” 

Another flicker. 

“Stop talking!” EXEO’s hand raised the knife but the other grabbed her wrist. “Azeri, shut me down, please.” It was a desperate plea that broke Azeri’s heart.

“I don't need to, you can do this.” Azeri insisted, a soft smile on their face,  blood pounding in their ears. They tried to say everything they were feeling with just their face.  _ You can do this, I believe in you, you’re amazing.  _

“Please.” EXEO cried, hand still in a death grip around her other while the hard light flickered rapidly between cold and crying. 

“I love you, EXEO. That’s how I know you can do this.” 

“You love me?” The words sound surprised and overjoyed and terrified and hopeful.

They were EXEO.

Then suddenly there was a loud cry as EXEO’s body jerked forward. The knife clattered to the ground and EXEO threw herself into Azeri’s arms, nearly knocking the captain off their feet.  Azeri held her tightly as she sobbed into their shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” 

“I’ve got you now. See, I told you that you were strong enough.” Azeri smiled as security and medical officers came running up. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me @dorkyduckling on Tumblr.


End file.
